[SOLVED] Inkscape 1.4.2-focus loss and sluggishness under Cinnamon/X11

Jackseller · 2025-10-19 16:15:19

Hi,

I'm experiencing a bug with Inkscape 1.4.2 installed from the official Arch Linux repositories.

Issues observed:

- There is a major focus issue when using multiple monitors: the application loses focus and takes 2 to 3 seconds to recover it.

- The interface is slow and unresponsive, even on a powerful machine.

Test environment:

- Desktop: Cinnamon under X11

- System: Arch Linux, fully up to date

Comparison:

- The bug does not occur in the official AppImage of Inkscape 1.4.2, which runs smoothly and behaves normally.

Thanks for your help.

Last edited by Jackseller (2025-10-26 10:53:23)

seth · 2025-10-19 20:09:12

he application loses focus and takes 2 to 3 seconds to recover it.

What gets the focus instead?

The interface is slow and unresponsive

What does that exactly mean? Does hovering buttons lag, does the action after the click, do shortcuts lag, does it scale (ie. zooming a fully rendered image is still much slower than zooming the outline mode)?

Cinnamon under X11

Same on eg. openbox (or icewm, but preferably an uncomposited WM)?

Are any other applications affected? (notably gtk3/cairo ones)

Jackseller · 2025-10-20 10:21:38

As soon as I open Inkscape, the program is a little slow to respond. Then when I open the export window via the menu, for example, it normally takes focus, and when I click again in the Inkscape window, it takes two or three seconds. And it gets worse over time.
I ran a lot of tests in a VM with OpenBox, XFCE, and also Cinnamon, and... everything works fine...
I still managed to find the culprit. It's my GTK3 theme. Now I just need to find what could be causing this problem in the CSS file.

seth · 2025-10-20 15:43:55

I still managed to find the culprit. It's my GTK3 theme.

Ftr: which one specifically?
It did not cause this in the VM sessions or did you use a different theme there?

Jackseller · 2025-10-22 05:44:34

After investigation, the issue is not even caused by multiple monitors, but by Inkscape's behavior when its main window goes into the background.
The culprit is the GTK theme selected by the user inside Inkscape (Edit > Preferences > Interface > Theming > Change GTK Theme). If the theme defines different font colors for :backdrop states, Inkscape starts to lag severely.

Here’s an example of the problematic CSS block:

notebook > header > tabs > arrow:backdrop,
button:backdrop.flat,
button:backdrop {
	/* ... */
    color: @insensitive_fg_color;
	/* ... */
}

notebook > header > tabs > arrow:backdrop:active,
notebook > header > tabs > arrow:backdrop:checked,
button:backdrop.flat:active,
button:backdrop.flat:checked,
button:backdrop:active,
button:backdrop:checked {
	/* ... */
    color: @insensitive_fg_color;
	/* ... */
}

notebook > header > tabs > arrow:backdrop:disabled,
button:backdrop.flat:disabled,
button:backdrop:disabled {
	/* ... */
    color: @unfocused_insensitive_color;
	/* ... */
}

notebook > header > tabs > arrow:backdrop:disabled:active,
notebook > header > tabs > arrow:backdrop:disabled:checked,
button:backdrop.flat:disabled:active,
button:backdrop.flat:disabled:checked,
button:backdrop:disabled:active,
button:backdrop:disabled:checked {
	/* ... */
    color: @unfocused_insensitive_color;
	/* ... */
}

Removing these color: definitions for :backdrop completely resolves the issue.

This bug does not occur when using the AppImage version of Inkscape.

It did not cause this in the VM sessions or did you use a different theme there?

I was using a theme that doesn't trigger the bug... But then I tried with Adwaita, and the bug came back.

Last edited by Jackseller (2025-10-22 05:52:20)

seth · 2025-10-22 07:11:10

Just to be clear: not only inkscape but every gtk3 application lags for you when using the default Adwaita theme?
Do you get this w/ "GSK_RENDERER=cairo inkscape" or "GSK_RENDERER=gl inkscape"?

Jackseller · 2025-10-22 10:31:28

Do you get this w/ "GSK_RENDERER=cairo inkscape" or "GSK_RENDERER=gl inkscape"?

Yes, the bug is present in both case

Just to be clear: not only inkscape but every gtk3 application lags for you when using the default Adwaita theme?

No. It happens only with Inskscape from Arch repository. Other applications work fine, at least the one I use.

Jackseller · 2025-10-22 11:34:11

I just updated Arch Linux and... now Inkscape won't start at all, whether it's the repository version or the AppImage version.
I've cleared the cache and deleted the config but nothing helps...

LANG=C journalctl -xe | grep inkscape
Oct 22 12:57:35 arch-dan systemd-coredump[23199]: Process 18370 (inkscape) of user 1000 terminated abnormally with signal 6/ABRT, processing...
Oct 22 12:57:35 arch-dan systemd-coredump[23200]: Process 18370 (inkscape) of user 1000 dumped core.
                                                  #10 0x00007f2768c4d7f6 _ZN19InkscapeApplicationC1Ev (libinkscape_base.so.1.4.2.0 + 0x124d7f6)
                                                  #11 0x000055bc6d90cd60 main (/usr/bin/inkscape + 0x2d60)
                                                  #14 0x000055bc6d90d855 _start (/usr/bin/inkscape + 0x3855)
-- Subject: Process 18370 (inkscape) dumped core
-- Process 18370 (inkscape) crashed and dumped core.
Oct 22 12:59:07 arch-dan systemd-coredump[29630]: Process 24745 (inkscape) of user 1000 terminated abnormally with signal 6/ABRT, processing...
Oct 22 12:59:07 arch-dan systemd-coredump[29631]: Process 24745 (inkscape) of user 1000 dumped core.
                                                  #10 0x00007fccd404d7f6 _ZN19InkscapeApplicationC1Ev (libinkscape_base.so.1.4.2.0 + 0x124d7f6)
                                                  #11 0x0000563c2f028d60 main (/usr/bin/inkscape + 0x2d60)
                                                  #14 0x0000563c2f029855 _start (/usr/bin/inkscape + 0x3855)
-- Subject: Process 24745 (inkscape) dumped core
-- Process 24745 (inkscape) crashed and dumped core.
Oct 22 13:01:36 arch-dan systemd-coredump[50793]: Process 50542 (inkscape) of user 1000 terminated abnormally with signal 6/ABRT, processing...
Oct 22 13:01:36 arch-dan systemd-coredump[50794]: Process 50542 (inkscape) of user 1000 dumped core.
                                                  #10 0x00007f0666a4d7f6 _ZN19InkscapeApplicationC1Ev (libinkscape_base.so.1.4.2.0 + 0x124d7f6)
                                                  #11 0x00005571913b1d60 main (/usr/bin/inkscape + 0x2d60)
                                                  #14 0x00005571913b2855 _start (/usr/bin/inkscape + 0x3855)
-- Subject: Process 50542 (inkscape) dumped core
-- Process 50542 (inkscape) crashed and dumped core.
Oct 22 13:02:32 arch-dan systemd-coredump[52517]: Process 51604 (inkscape) of user 1000 terminated abnormally with signal 6/ABRT, processing...
Oct 22 13:02:33 arch-dan systemd-coredump[52518]: Process 51604 (inkscape) of user 1000 dumped core.
                                                  #10 0x00007f2111a4d7f6 _ZN19InkscapeApplicationC1Ev (libinkscape_base.so.1.4.2.0 + 0x124d7f6)
                                                  #11 0x00005606fa841d60 main (/usr/bin/inkscape + 0x2d60)
                                                  #14 0x00005606fa842855 _start (/usr/bin/inkscape + 0x3855)
-- Subject: Process 51604 (inkscape) dumped core
-- Process 51604 (inkscape) crashed and dumped core.
Oct 22 13:06:18 arch-dan systemd-coredump[67364]: Process 64693 (inkscape) of user 1000 terminated abnormally with signal 6/ABRT, processing...
Oct 22 13:06:18 arch-dan systemd-coredump[67365]: Process 64693 (inkscape) of user 1000 dumped core.
                                                  #10 0x00007f9f1da4d7f6 _ZN19InkscapeApplicationC1Ev (libinkscape_base.so.1.4.2.0 + 0x124d7f6)
                                                  #11 0x0000564326edfd60 main (/usr/bin/inkscape + 0x2d60)
                                                  #14 0x0000564326ee0855 _start (/usr/bin/inkscape + 0x3855)
-- Subject: Process 64693 (inkscape) dumped core
-- Process 64693 (inkscape) crashed and dumped core.

seth · 2025-10-22 12:02:54

For a SIGABRT you'll probably also get some error message/warning.
What was in the update?
Does it still start w/ a fresh user account?

Toolybird · 2025-10-22 12:08:54

https://gitlab.archlinux.org/archlinux/ … -/issues/2

Related at least...

Last edited by Toolybird (2025-10-22 12:10:32)

Jackseller · 2025-10-26 10:51:59

Now that Inkscape is working again, I’ve worked around the issue by creating a separate GTK3 theme specifically for Inkscape, parallel to my own, where I removed the color: definitions for :background. It’s a workaround I can live with while waiting for a proper fix to this bug — which has already eaten up far too much of my time.

Arch Linux

#1 2025-10-19 16:15:19

[SOLVED] Inkscape 1.4.2-focus loss and sluggishness under Cinnamon/X11

#2 2025-10-19 20:09:12

Re: [SOLVED] Inkscape 1.4.2-focus loss and sluggishness under Cinnamon/X11

#3 2025-10-20 10:21:38

Re: [SOLVED] Inkscape 1.4.2-focus loss and sluggishness under Cinnamon/X11

#4 2025-10-20 15:43:55

Re: [SOLVED] Inkscape 1.4.2-focus loss and sluggishness under Cinnamon/X11

#5 2025-10-22 05:44:34

Re: [SOLVED] Inkscape 1.4.2-focus loss and sluggishness under Cinnamon/X11

#6 2025-10-22 07:11:10

Re: [SOLVED] Inkscape 1.4.2-focus loss and sluggishness under Cinnamon/X11

#7 2025-10-22 10:31:28

Re: [SOLVED] Inkscape 1.4.2-focus loss and sluggishness under Cinnamon/X11

#8 2025-10-22 11:34:11

Re: [SOLVED] Inkscape 1.4.2-focus loss and sluggishness under Cinnamon/X11

#9 2025-10-22 12:02:54

Re: [SOLVED] Inkscape 1.4.2-focus loss and sluggishness under Cinnamon/X11

#10 2025-10-22 12:08:54

Re: [SOLVED] Inkscape 1.4.2-focus loss and sluggishness under Cinnamon/X11

#11 2025-10-26 10:51:59

Re: [SOLVED] Inkscape 1.4.2-focus loss and sluggishness under Cinnamon/X11

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